Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have faced many criticisms based on their apparent control of content on the global network and the use of the information gathered from users. They have been accused of unfairly targeting certain users and content that did not align with their intentions for the site or the prevalent political beliefs held by the founder and leadership.
It is now ironic that they are coming under fire for not doing enough to limit content in the form of “fake news” on the site.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/19/technology/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-fake-news-election/index.html
Facebook makes money by letting advertisers get in front of users that are most likely to want to see what they are offering. That political ads would follow this model is not surprising, but where the line is drawn between using the data that Facebook has for commercial gain and political gain seems to have been put to the test during the most recent election cycle.
Initially Zuckerberg stated he did not think the content of “fake news” was sufficient to have had any meaningful impact. Now Facebook is taking steps to address this perceived issue, and that is the primary reason. They have done a great deal to build the Facebook brand around the ideas of bringing people together and improving the human condition. Zuckerberg’s efforts to bring the internet to the world are the most recent example of driving forward this perception. Regardless of how much actual impact the “fake news” had, at this point they must at least appear to do the socially responsible thing and work toward making sure that their information sharing instrument is not misused.